23/03/14 - IVANOV WINS CONSECUTIVE WORLD TITLES

Daniil Ivanov's clinical consistency again proved the difference on the final day of the 2013/14 Ice Speedway calendar.The 2013 World Champion secured back-to-back titles, pouncing on the openings left by Koltakov's costly riding errors just a day after he had suggested their was life yet in the title race, when he had reduced the points gap to just 6 with a commanding first place on Day One.In reality though, Ivanov showed all of the qualities expected of a reigning Champion, arguably handling the pressure of the occasion better than his Russian counterpart, beating him across the line in what was billed as a critical Heat 26. Koltakov then hit the final nail in his own metaphorical coffin by finishing second behind Dmitri Khomitsevich in Heat 29, and from then on, there was seemingly no way back for the amiable Ufa rider - Ivanov sealing the title in Heat 37, completing a points whitewash.In other news, both days were marred by a series of serious crashes, none more disturbing than those of Austrian veteran, Harald Simon - the incident on Day One alone looking likely to put paid to his weekend. In a somewhat grimly predictable twist of fate, he today guaranteed a spell on the sidelines with a phenomenal highside, appearing to fall in an identically awkward fashion to Saturday.Whilst the healthy Austrian section of the crowd were to be left deflated, the home supporters would have been left enthralled by the performances of all four of their principle riders, but, in particular, those of Gunther Bauer, Max Niedermaier and the unbelievably entertaining Johann Weber.Weber, making his first appearance in a GP, delighted the capacity crowd, with a display of fearless, Hospital or Rostrum riding which helped him amass 15 points over the weekend, and earnt him a Semi-Final appearance on Saturday.

So, another season comes to an end, and Ivanov sits top of the World tree once more, finishing a healthy 11 points ahead of Koltakov, with the evergreen Dmitri Khomitsevich finishing a further 14 points behind in third.

21/03/14 - GP4 - CONFIRMED LINE-UP FOR INZELL

So here we are - finally, the eve of the final GP of the season is upon us, and whilst we still do not know for certain if Daniil Ivanov will win back-to-back World titles (as certain as that may currently seem!), what we do now know is that the riders' ballot has taken place for this weekend, and the confirmed start list is as below:

1 Sergey Makarov - Russia

2 Günther Bauer - Germany

3 Grzegorz Knapp - Poland

4 Jan Klatovsky - Czech Republic

5 Johann Weber (Wild Card) - Germany

6 Per-Anders Lindström - Sweden

7 Daniil Ivanov - Russia

8 Tomi Tani - Finland

9 Stefan Pletschacher - Germany

10 Sven Holstein - Netherlands

11 Dimitri Khomitsevich - Russia

12 Harald Simon - Austria

13 Max Niedermaier - Germany

14 Igor Kononov - Russia

15 Stefan Svensson - Sweden

16 Dimitry Koltakov - Russia

Reserve 1 - 17 Markus Jell DMSB Germany

Reserve 2 - 18 Franz Mayerbüchler DMSB Germany

﻿Qualified substitutes

19 Max Niedermaier - Germany

20 Tomi Tani - Finland

21 Sven Holstein - Netherlands

22 Martin Posch - Austria

23 Ronny Häring - Switzerland

Stay tuned to ISW over the weekend, as we bring you all the news, results and photos from what promises to be an engaging weekend of racing from the magnificent Max Aicher Arena.For those watching from home, Eurosport 2 will once again be broadcasting the meeting live. Coverage starts on Saturday at 4.30pm (GMT) / 5.30pm (CET) and on Sunday at 1.30pm (GMT) / 2.30pm (CET).Eurosport 1 will also be repeating the action from both days - Saturday at 8.45pm (GMT) / 9.45pm (CET) and on Sunday at 8pm (GMT) / 9pm (CET).

10/03/14 - GP3 - IVANOV MOVES A STEP CLOSER IN ASSEN

Reigning World Champion Daniil Ivanov moved one step closer to retaining his Crown in an eventful GP3 at the spiritual home of Dutch motorsport.De Bonte Wever was packed to the rafters on both days of this penultimate round of the World Championship, having been treated to a fabulous spectacle the previous night thanks to the Roelof Thijs Cup, which saw three young stars of the future (Swedes, Ove Ledstrom and Daniel Henderson, and Dutch newcomer, Dirk Werkman) further increase their profiles on the World stage.Day One of the main event saw Ivanov continue his charge toward the retention of his title with chilling consistency, not dropping a single point until the Semi-Final, where he succumbed to 2nd place behind his principle challenger, Dmitry Koltakov. He would, however, make up for this blip, by returning the favour in the Final, by beating his compatriot to the line to secure the Gold medal.The day was soured slightly, particularly for the home fans, by an incident in Heat 6, which saw Guenther Bauer race a little too hard round the first bend, in the process nudging Rene Stellingwerf into the tyre wall at full speed - Stellingwerf ended the day in a Hospital bed, and is, unfortunately, out for the rest of the season.Day Two was almost the reverse of Saturday evening, with Koltakov digging deep to earn a faultless path to the Final, whilst the iceman, Ivanov dropped points in his head-to-head with Koltakov in Heat 20. This acted as a nice warm up for the Final, which again pitted four Russian riders against eachother, and, again, Ivanov did not falter, just beating Koltakov across the line, with Dmitry Khomitsevich securing another third place finish.One footnote from Sunday's racing - the mature performance of Dutch teenager Dirk Werkman, who used his reserve opportunity to great effect, racking up a phenomenal six points, and giving us all a glimpse of what may lie ahead for Dutch fans.So, Ivanov takes a solid seven point lead into the final round in Inzell, but all is still to play for, and it promises to be an action packed end to the season. You can check the fully updated results and standings on ISW by clicking this link.You can also enjoy a full slideshow of the best photographs from the Assen weekend by clicking here.

23/02/14 - OLSEN COMES OF AGE IN KAMENSK-URALSKY

The Russians once again used the European Championship to flex their undoubted muscle and showcase a selection of riders from the conveyor belt of talent not competing in this year's Gladiators Championship.However, whilst the net result over the weekend saw the gold and silver medals won by home riders, it was the overall third place won by Jimmy Olsen which raised most eyebrows.The 17 year old Swede rode an accomplished race over both days to finish 3rd in the A-Final on the Saturday, and earning a solid win in the B-Final on the Sunday - that was enough for a 26 point haul, which saw the youngster pip seasoned campaigner and GP rider, Stefan Pletschacher to the bronze.As for those aforementioned Russians, the gold went to Vasily Nesythyh, and the silver to Yegor Myshkovets.You can view the final standings in full by clicking this link.

16/02/14 - IVANOV MAINTAINS HIS LEAD IN THE FAR EAST

As ever, the Russian Far-East produced some entertaining racing, and provided us with further proof (if indeed it was needed!) that the battle for the World title will go down to the wire. Unfortunately, it also provided us with another casualty...Day One saw the usual dominance of the Russians in the Heats, but was noteworthy because of the dropped points in Heat 6 from Koltakov, which, given the clinical consistency of reigning Champion, Daniil Ivanov, could prove costly at the end of the season.It also saw Austrian interest in the World Championship completely wiped out with Harald Simon crashing out in the Heats, to join his compatriot, Franky Zorn in Hospital.The day highlighted how much strength-in-depth Russian Ice Speedway possesses, with Pavel Chaika providing Ivanov and Koltakov with genuine competition. The Final saw Koltakov beat Ivanov to the Gold medal, with Chaika leading Sergey Makarov to earn the final spot on the podium.

Day Two was conspicuous by it's producing of no less than FIVE crashes, the most pivotal of which came, unfortunately, in the Final, and saw Dmitry Koltakov disqualified - in the rerun, the excellent Pavel Chaika also suffered the same fate, this time for illegally crossing the blue line.This left Daniil Ivanov to take the chequered flag, followed by Igor Kononov.All in all, a thoroughly satisfying weekend's work for the reigning Champion, and it also proved to be another good run for the Swedes, with both Per-Anders Lindström and Stefan Svensson putting in impressive performances and netting valuable points.The updated Championship standings can be seen by clicking this link to our Fixtures/Results page.

10/02/14 - WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

As we all expected, on home soil, in the magnificent home of Mega-Lada Togliatti, Russia, once again, claimed the World Team crown.However, with the usually strong Austrian team reeling from the loss of Franz Zorn in Krasnogorsk (the previous weekend), this left the door open for a more open fight than we expected for the other two podium places.Sweden stepped up to the plate with Stefan Svensson putting in a solid performance on both days, but they were pushed all the way by a Finnish team who lost their star man, Antti Aakko after Day One. Far from letting this affect them, Team Finland beat off competition from Germany and the weakened Austrians, largely due to a magnificent weekend-best points contribution of 32 from Mats Jarf who looked like a man possessed.So, Russia, Sweden and Finland were your medal winners for 2014, and many of these riders will again be in action next weekend, when we see Round 2 of the Gladiators as well as the European Championship taking place consecutively.For a full breakdown of the final results from today, simply click this link to the ISW fixtures & results page.

02/02/14 - DAY 2 IN KRASNOGORSK

With Franky Zorn's absence confirmed for Day 2 of competition (and,unfortunately, likely for the rest of the season), Vasily Kosov was the only change from the first day's line-up.Yet again, Finland's Antti Aakko was unlucky not to get a chance to break the Russian dominance with some Western European involvement in the Semi-Finals, but couldn't quite make the necessary points tally.All said and done, as on Day 1, four familiar Russian faces made up the start for the Final - the same as Saturday in fact...However, on this occasion, the reigning World Champion couldn't make the start everybody expected, with Dmitri Khomitsevich leading the charge through the first bend. A super-quick Koltakov soon chased him down and led until the chequered flag, whilst behind the leaders, Vitaly Khomitsevich had also managed to get past Ivanov, relegating him to an unlikely last place.So, a Winners' trophy for both Ivanov and Koltakov, but it is Ivanov who ploughs on to Round 2 in the Russian Far-East with a 2 point lead in the Championship table by virtue of his more consistent heat scores across the weekend.The latest standings can be reviewed at any time by clicking this link.

01/02/14 - DAY 1 IN KRASNOGORSK

The podium photograph from the opening day of the 2014 Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship had a familiar feel about it, with the Russians (predictably) dominating affairs on home ice.

Daniil Ivanov demonstrated the same clinical efficiency he exhibited last season, carving a seamless route through to the Final, the talented Dmitry Koltakov hanging at his coat tails not far behind.In said Final, Ivanov powered home ahead of Koltakov, followed by the Khomitsevitch brothers, Dmitry pipping Vitaly to the final podium place.

Antti Aakko topped the rankings for the Western Europeans, the Finn bagging two heat wins and a semi-final appearance, scoring a total of 9 points in the process.

The only real incident of note came in Heat 2, where a worrying crash involving Franky Zorn, saw him transported to Hospital for further checks. ISW understands that the Austrian is now making his way back home, and, as such, will not be taking part tomorrow.

Tune in to the ISW forum tomorrow for full results and report from Day 2 in Krasnogorsk.

26/01/14 - KOLTAKOV DOMINATES IN SANOK

The mercurial Dmitry Koltakov sent another message of dominance to the Ice Speedway World by claiming victory on Day 2 of the Sanok Cup in what was a very strong field, featuring eight-time World Champion, Nikolay Krasnikov and the legendary Per-Olof Serenius.

With the programmed heats completed, the semi-finals looked to be yielding the expected result of a Russian dominated final, but Krasnikov suffered a heartbreaking mechanical failure whilst in the lead, leaving Koltakov and the impressive Igor Kononov to battle it out with Franky Zorn and the evergreen Swede, Stefan Svensson. The Western Europeans gave a very good account of themselves, but, ultimately, the quality of the Russians was telling, with Koltakov leading his counterpart Kononov across the line, and sending a chilling message to the rest of the Gladiators field.

Full scores will be posted shortly, but the above table shows confirmed standings.

24/01/14 - SANOK CUP READY FOR ACTION

The fantastic showcase of Polish Ice Speedway takes place this weekend with the seventh advent of the Sanok Cup.ISW will bring you all the news and results from this usually scintillating event as soon as they happen.The start list for the weekend's racing is listed below:

Day 1 will see 13 riders thrash it out to qualify for Day 2, where the top 7 will face the seeded riders, including eight-time World Champion, Nikolay Krasnikov, Franky Zorn, and the fabulous talent that is Dmitry Koltakov.

12/01/14 - IVANOV CLAIMS RUSSIAN TITLE

In a scintillating final day in Ufa, reigning World Champion, Daniil Ivanov, and the mercurial talent of Dmitry Koltakov thrashed it out to the death to be crowned Russia's best for another year.Having finished level on points upon the conclusion of the programmed heats, the two could only be split by a run-off. In a cruel twist of fate, not befitting of his efforts over the two rounds, Dmitry Koltakov fell and crashed out, leaving Ivanov to sail across the line and claim the title for 2013/2014.

In other matters, 3rd place had to be decided by a run-off as well, with both Sergey Makarov and Igor Kononov finishing up on 34 points. Makarov got the better of his counterpart to claim the bronze, but, ultimately, both left as winners, with the two riders automatically qualifying for the FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators Qualification Round in St Johann on 25th January.The final standings can be viewed by clicking this link.

10/01/14 - Russian Championship Final 2

10/01/14 - Russian championship final 2This weekend (11th & 12th January) sees the Russian Championship Final series move on to the City of Ufa, Bashkortostan - the home of the legendary Nikolai Krasnikov.Racing commences tomorrow at 2pm (local time), which equates to 8am (GMT)/9am (CET).Thankfully, there will be a live stream of the action on both days, which can be viewed by clicking this link.

05/01/14 - FREE ISW 2014 CALENDAR!

As a treat to our readers, your lovely team at Ice Speedway World has created a free 2014 Calendar available for download, simply by clicking the image to the right.

For your information, the rider in the photo is a 16 year old talent we met whilst on our tour of Novosibirsk in December of last year!

26/12/13 - RUSSIAN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Following the completion of the first two rounds of the Individual Championship in Togliatti, Dmitry Koltakov leads the way on 27 points. Current World Champion, Daniil Ivanov is in 2nd place on 23 points, and Andrei Gavrilkin, Sergey Makarov and Igor Kononov are tied on 21 points.The current rankings have been updated and the full table can be seen by clicking this link to the thread on the ISW forum.

23/12/13 - Russian Individual Championship Update

With all four qualification rounds of the Russian Individual Championship now complete, the line-up for the Finals is hereby confirmed, and is listed below:

The first final will be held in Togliatti over the 24th & 25th December, and ISW will bring you the results as soon as they are confirmed.Stay tuned to the ISW forum for details of any live television feeds and/or video highlights.

16/12/13 - RUSSIAN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP BEGINS

This weekend just passed, Novosibirsk was home to the first of the qualification rounds for the Russian Individual Championship Finals.

In what seemed to be a relatively strong grouping of Russian talent, the mercurial Dmitry Koltakov topped the standings after both days of competition, qualifying for the Finals along with Daniel Golosheykyn and the Kosov brothers, Vasily and Eugene.

18/11/13 - HENDERSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

ISW understands that Swedish rider Robert Henderson has announced his retirement from the Sport with immediate effect.We are, as yet, unaware of the exact reasoning behind his decision, but it was clear that Robert had struggled for form in the 2013 Gladiators Series.Robert raced between 2011 - 2013 in the FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators Series, finishing 10th in 2012, and 13th last season. He won his sole senior individual title earlier this year, capturing the Nordic Championship title.Robert's rather unexpected and sudden departure from the Sport is especially sad given the exciting promise he showed, particularly in 2012, but, in time, one hopes he may get back on an Ice Speedway bike again.ISW wishes Robert all the best for the future, whichever route he choses to take!

08/11/13 - FIXTURES RELEASED

ISW brings you the updated International fixtures, as well as those for the Russian and Swedish Leagues - more than enough action over the next 5 months to keep the most hardened fan occupied!Simply use the 'FIXTURES/RESULTS' tab on the menu to select your fixtures of choice for the 2013/14 season.

29/10/13 - 'Speedway on ice' fixtures

ISW has discovered that Germany will be hosting a number of 'Speedway on Ice' events at various indoor venues across the Country between December and March. The fixtures are listed above. Tickets for each and every event can be purchased by clicking this link to 'Speedway-on-Ice.de'.

23/10/13 - INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES ANNOUNCED

ISW is pleased to announce that provisional fixtures for the 2014 International Ice Speedway season have now been released, and can be found on the Ice Forum by clicking this link.Russian domestic League and Cup fixtures for 2013/14 season are also listed on the Ice Forum.ISW will be posting the confirmed fixtures as soon as they have been officially agreed.

Ivanov crowned 2013 World Champion

Daniil Ivanov finally emerged from the shadow of the legendary Nikolay Krasnikov by securing his first World Championship Crown at the final round of the season in Uppsala, Sweden.In what has been a thoroughly engaging contest for the title between the widely fancied Ivanov, and the excellent Dmitry Koltakov, the former was firmly in pole position after a strong showing in Round 4, and carried this form into Day 1 at Uppsala.Going into Day 2, the climax was to be reached as early as Heat 5, when Ivanov came face to face with Koltakov, duly beat him, and captured the 3 points needed to secure his maiden crown.After this, it was noticeable that Koltakov's performances dropped below his typically high standards, but, alas, he had done enough to secure the runner-up spot, with Ivanov's Mega-Lada Togliatti teammate, Dmitry Khomitsevich taking the bronze medal.No fear, ISUK will be operating all through the close-season, but, for now, we would like to thank all the riders, officials and, especially the fans, for making the 2013 season so memorable!

19/3/13 - IVANOV PUSHES CLEAR IN INZELL

On a weekend where the non-Russian riders performed as admirably as they have all season (with particular mentions going to Gunther Bauer, Harald Simon and Franky Zorn), the headlines were again made by Champion-elect, Daniil Ivanov. In an almost mirror image of events at Assen in the previous round, Ivanov pulled clear of his closest challenger, Dmitry Koltakov, by amassing a perfect 21 point haul on Day 1. He perhaps rode his luck on Day 2, with a huge crash in the Final putting paid to Harald Simon's chance of finishing on the podium, but also offering Ivanov the opportunity to improve his performance in the re-run...naturally, given a second chance, he made no mistake, and won the race in clinical style.Full results and updated Championship standings can be found on the ISUK Fixtures/Results page.

12/3/13 - Koltakov closes the gap in assen

Dmitry Koltakov closed the gap on 'Champion-elect', and compatriot, Daniil Ivanov, with the damage being done on an eventful Saturday evening, which also saw Eduard Krysov retire injured after a clash with Pavel Chaika.Koltakov achieved a clean sweep with seven maximum scores, which he then added to with an Ivanov-matching 20 point haul on the Sunday, combining to place him just 3 points behind the current leader in the overall standings.Relative Ice 'veteran', Vitaly Khomitesevich capped an excellent weekend by completing the podium line-up, just ahead of his younger brother, Dmitry.Franky Zorn remains the highest placed non-Russian rider, in 6th, having again scored consistently across both days.Full results and updated standings following this weekend's action in Assen can be viewed by clicking this link.

ivanov leads the way after 2 rounds...

So, two rounds of the five round Ice Speedway Gladiators Series completed, and, as many predicted, Daniil Ivanov leads the way - albeit by a modest 7 points.Whilst the Russians, once again, filled the podium at Togliatti, Austrian veteran, Franky Zorn, did manage to make the Final on both days - a truly heroic feat given the traditional dominance of the Russians on their own turf.Full results and the up-to-date Championship Standings can be viewed by clicking this link.

WORLD TEAM CHAMPS - video highlights...

Well...not highlights, so much as over 200 minutes of top quality footage of both days of the World Team Championships have been uploaded below for your viewing delight! Acknowledgement to Polish TV for the superb coverage.

Russia claims another World Team crown

In one of the closest fought World Team Championships for many a year, Russia just pipped a superb Austrian team to the title, but it took a run-off between Daniil Ivanov and Franky Zorn to split them after the scores were level following the scheduled 42 heats. Sweden just managed to capture 3rd place, coming home a single point ahead of both Poland and Czech Republic.On another note, the performance of Poland's golden boy, Gregorz Knapp, demonstrated that the continued work put in by Sanok promoter, Pawel Ruszkiewicz to heighten the profile of his rider and Team Polska is working just fine.Congratulations to Russia, Austria and Sweden, and especially to Pawel and the team at Arena Sanok for showing the World how well a relative newcomer can fit in to the Ice Speedway circuit.A full breakdown of the final results can be viewed on the ISUK forum by clicking this link.

2013 Gladiators line-up confirmed...

The line-up for the 2013 FIM Ice Speedway Gladiators World Championship series has now been confirmed, following yesterday's Challenge in Norrköping, Sweden.The following riders will contest the 5-round series, starting on 2nd February...

Antti Aakko

Daniil Ivanov

Dmitri Khomitsevich

Dmitri Kotakov

Eduard Krysov

Franz Zorn

Gregorz Knapp

Gunther Bauer

Harald Simon

Pavel Chaika

Robert Henderson

Stefan Pletschacher

Stefan Svensson

Vitaly Khomitsevich

The FIM still have to decide who to provide with a permanent Wildcard to complete the line-up, and I.S.U.K will bring news of this as soon as it is made available.